Anthem for iOS lets you TikTok your way into music discovery
Every year Spotify provides a reliable history of everything you've consumed on the platform. New discoveries, diversity of music genres and artists, and a whole host of other trivia about your experience with music. How about starting 2022 with the certainty of expanding your musical knowledge by the end of the year?
TL;DR
- The Anthem app for iOS uses the concept of TikTok to increase your knowledge of music.
- Anthem is free and available in English only.
- The app works together with Spotify in paid and free versions.
During journalism school in Brazil, when I was still imagining that I would pursue a career focused on music, I remember a classmate saying to me "the more I know about music, the less I know about music". FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) or just curiosity, the truth is that today there are different ways to broaden our knowledge around music.
In this sense, the Anthem app is the newest hype for those who want to explore Spotify's database in a fun and personalized way. The app uses the concept of a TikTok-style feed to suggest songs based on the genres and artists you enjoy on the most popular music streaming service.
Why is Anthem worth downloading?
According to the developer, "Anthem makes Spotify as addicting as TikTok!" But what does that mean? Like TikTok, Anthem uses an infinite, vertical stream of content to recommend new music discoveries based on your Spotify history. In other words, you can simply swipe across your smartphone screen to discover new music, and it even includes some social features such as sharing your new songs and favorite artists with others members.
After downloading and installing the app, you will have to connect Anthem to your Spotify account. The app will then analyze your streaming history and prompt you to choose your favorite tracks from a list created based on your music feed on the platform. You will also have to join at least two clubs offered by Anthem. From here, you will start receiving the suggestions.
- Looking for Spotify alternatives? Check our music streaming services best list
And if you don't have a Premium account on the platform, no problem, Anthem works on both the free and paid versions of Spotify.
The app is very well-designed, intuitive, and very simple to use. My criticism here goes to the fact that it is still limited regarding music suggestions and amount of clubs upon login. However, expanding this seems to be in the developer's plans, as well as an Android version of the app.
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Is it safe to download the Anthem app?
The App Store privacy policy states that the app developer — Anthem App, Inc. — may collect data linked to your identity for the purposes of using contact information and identifiers. Regarding non-identity linked data, usage and diagnostic data may be collected. The full privacy policy of the developer can be found here.
To use the app, you need to link the service to your Spotify account. To do so, you will need to agree to some prerequisites, such as access to Spotify account data like username, profile picture, and public playlists, recently viewed content, as well as being able to create and edit private playlists among others.
In general, regarding privacy, I did not find any red flags.
So, are you ready for Anthem? Did you already know the app? Share your opinion in the comments below.
